Bitcoin is technology, but gold 'is dead,' Mark Cuban tells Peter Schiff

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are empowering but gold is “dead,” billionaire Mark Cuban has told one of cryptocurrency's biggest naysayers.

In a Twitter debate on Mar. 2, Cuban, who has become increasingly sympathetic to crypto, warned Peter Schiff that gold “will die” as a store of value (SOV).

Schiff, a gold bug who has long made a name for himself as a firm Bitcoin skeptic, continues to tweet disparaging comments about the phenomenon despite BTC/USD regularly hitting new all-time highs.

Responding to remarks about Wall Street firms being “dumb” by buying it, Cuban offered a dose of surprisingly pro-Bitcoin medicine.

“Let me help Peter. Gold is hyped as much as Crypto. Do we really need gold jewelry？ Gold can make you a ring,” one tweet reads.

Continuing, he gave a stark verdict on the future of gold.

“What we are seeing built w/crypto today is just proof of concept. As tech continues to get better/cheaper/faster there will be new applications and maybe even something that supersedes what we know as crypto today,” a further post says.

Cuban had formally given little time to Bitcoin or cryptocurrency technology more broadly, sparking a concerted effort among proponents to persuade him to reconsider. In January, he revealed that he still had holdings from years ago which he had “never sold.”

“Don't forget, Gold was a SOV built on technology. From picks and shovels to mining operations that keep trying to improve. Whoever could use the tech of the day to find and mine the most efficiently was the most rewarded. Much like Crypto is today,” a final message to Schiff concludes.

Schiff had little to counteract his words, calling cryptocurrency a ”malinvestment and arguing that gold could back digital currency in future.

Meanwhile, Schiff's years of scorn have found a new, more productive purpose.

As many joke that his Twitter posts serve as an indication of Bitcoin price bottoms, one trader revealed a homemade trading tool that has spent a year performing transactions based solely on Schiff's social media activity.

“Since May, the algorithm would have executed 203 trades, achieving an annualized return of ~1000%,” Sam Baker, a student at Boston College said, uploading a sample of its profits.

“I guess that's as good a reason as any to buy Bitcoin. Good luck,” Schiff replied.